Lens select device and portable information terminal

ABSTRACT

To provide a lens select device in which an iris image pickup function may be incorporated into a portable information terminal at low cost.  
     In a lens support member  34,  a small gear  51  is formed at one end part of the lens support member, and a lens-housing boss part  53  and a lens-housing boss part  54  are juxtaposed at the other end part. By turning the small gear  51,  the first lens or the second lens is aligned with a predetermined position. An operation part  59  is provided. When the operation part  59  engages with the small gear  51  and turns the same, the operation part  59  switches the lens which is aligned with the predetermined position to the first lens or the second lens. Preferably, the operation part  59  is an arcuate member which turns about a position, which is different from a rotational center of the small gear  51,  and it is an inscribed gear  59  having teeth formed in the inner peripheral surface, which are in mesh with the small gear  51.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a lens select device and aportable information terminal. More particularly, the invention relatesto a lens select device and a portable information terminal which enablea telescopic image, such as an iris image, and a wide angle image, suchas a scenery image and a face image, to both be picked up by lensselection.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Prevalence of portable information terminals, such portabletelephone sets and PDAs (personal digital assistants) is remarkable. Forexample, a credit card function and a money card function areincorporated into the portable telephone set. A user accesses a shoppingsite on the internet and makes purchases at the shopping site. In thiscase, a problem that arises is the theft of the portable telephone setby another person. In one of the ways to prevent the theft by anotherperson, an individual authentication function is incorporated into theportable telephone set. Only when the individual is authenticated, useof the portable telephone set is permitted or the shopping is permitted.

[0005] In prior techniques as disclosed in JP-A-2001-92786 andJP-A-2000-307715, a function to authenticate an individual with the irisor fingerprint is incorporated into the portable telephone set. Theportable telephone verifies whether or not a current possessor of theportable telephone set is authorized, and prohibits other possessorsthan the authorized one from using the portable telephone set.

[0006] A method of authenticating a person with his iris will find a usein many different environments since an electronic camera is mounted ona portable telephone set and an iris of the user is merely picked up. Aniris pick-up camera must be a telescopic camera of a narrow field anglesince it picks up an iris pattern. The iris image is best clear in thenear infrared wavelength region. Accordingly, it is necessary to attacha visible light cut filter to the lens.

[0007] The portable telephone set that is used as a television telephoneor is capable of picking up a scenery image and sending it to a calledparty become wodely used. The wide angle camera is wider in field anglethan the telescopic camera, and when an infrared light cut filter whichpermits visible light to pass therethrough but inhibits infrared lightfrom passing therethrough, is attached to the lens, a clearer image canbe picked up.

[0008] The telescopic camera for picking up the iris image isincompatible with the wide angle camera for picking up the scenery imagein many points. Accordingly, it is difficult to house the two camerasinto the housing of the small portable telephone set, and the cost tomanufacture increases. To cope with this, the following measure may betaken. The image pick-up device, such CCD, is commonly used for both thecameras. Two lenses, a wide angle lens and a telescopic lens, areprovided for the lens disposed in front of the image pick-up device.Either of those lenses is selected by a lens select device. In thiscase, it is desired that the lens select device may be installed in anarrow space, and the lens select operation is easy and reliable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide alens select device which is capable of smoothly switching between thetelescopic lens and the wide angle lens even if it is installed in anarrow space, and a portable information terminal having both the wideangle camera function and the telescopic camera function.

[0010] To achieve the above object, there is provided a lens selectdevice comprising: a lens select device having a gear part at one endpart and a first lens and a second lens which are juxtaposed at theother end part, when the first gear part is turned, the first lens orthe second lens is aligned with a predetermined position; and anoperation part for switching the lens to be aligned with thepredetermined position to the first lens or the second lens when theoperation part engages with the gear part and turns the gear part. Withsuch a construction, a lens for imaging a picked-up image on one imagepick-up element may be switched in a compact construction.

[0011] Preferably, the operation part includes an arcuate member whichturns about a position different from a rotational center of the gearpart, and has teeth on the inner peripheral surface which are in meshwith the gear part. With such a feature, a force to rotate the gear partmay be transmitted by turning the arcuate member, and hence the gearpart may smoothly be operated.

[0012] More preferably, a housing is provided which has a first supportshaft serving as the rotational center of the lens support member, and asecond support shaft serving as a rotational center of the operationpart. The operation part includes an elongated hole through which thefirst support shaft passes, the elongated hole allowing the operationpart to rotate about the second support shaft. The inside diameter ofthe arcuate member is larger than the outside diameter of the firsttooth part. With such a construction, a lens mounting portion of thelens support member is greatly swung by merely applying a small force tothe arcuate member, and moving the arcuate member by a small slidingquantity. Accordingly, the lens of a large diameter may be mounted.

[0013] More preferably, positioning marks are respectively formed on thegear part and the arcuate member. With this feature, the assembling andpositioning of the lens select device are easy.

[0014] The lens select device may further includes: a plurality of ribsprovided on one side surface of the gear part, the ribs being coaxialwith the gear part and being rotatable together the gear part; and athin plate spring being fixed and having a protrusion which faces theone side surface of the gear part being rotating, with rotation of thegear part, the protrusion engaging into or disengaging from a gapbetween the ribs. With this feature, a click feeling may be producedthrough engagement of protrusion with the gap when the lens is set tofirst lens select position or the second lens select position.

[0015] Preferably, a filter associated with a lens is mounted on thelens support member. Therefore, a filter most suitable for the lens maybe installed in a narrow space, and a clear image may be picked up.

[0016] A portable information terminal which achieves the above object,is provided with any of the lens select devices as defined above inwhich a telescopic lens is mounted as the first lens, a wide angle lensis mounted as the second lens, and an infrared light cut filter ismounted as the filter. With this feature, two camera functions, i.e., atelescopic camera function and a wide angle camera function, may beincorporated into a small portable information terminal at low cost.

[0017] A portable information terminal which achieves the above objectcomprises: any of the lens select devices as defined above in which atelescopic lens is mounted as the first lens, a wide angle lens ismounted as the second lens, a visible light cut filter is mounted as afilter associated with the telescopic lens, and an infrared light cutfilter is mounted as a filter associated with the wide angle lens; andan iris verifying function which processes an iris image picked upthrough the telescopic lens to thereby carry out a verification process.With this feature, the portable information terminal having the irisverifying function is manufactured at low cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018]FIG. 1 is a view showing an external appearance of a foldableportable telephone set on which a lens select device according to anembodiment of the invention is mounted.

[0019]FIG. 2 is a model diagram showing a lens select device, which isthe embodiment of the present invention.

[0020]FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the lens selectdevice, which is the embodiment of the invention.

[0021]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a lens supportmember used for the lens select device, which is the embodiment of theinvention.

[0022]FIG. 5 is a bottom view showing the lens select device, which isthe embodiment of the invention, in a state that a knurl is omitted.

[0023]FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view showing the lens select devicewhich is the embodiment of the invention, which the view is taken online VI-VI in FIG. 5.

[0024]FIG. 7 is a top view showing the lens select device, which is theembodiment of the invention.

[0025]FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view showing the lens select devicewhich is the embodiment of the invention, which the view is taken online VIII-VIII in FIG. 7.

[0026]FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a relativepositioning of the knurl and the small gear in the lens select device,which is the embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0027] An embodiment of the present invention will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

[0028]FIG. 1 is a view showing an external appearance of a foldableportable telephone set having an iris verifying function on which a lensselect device according to an embodiment of the invention is mounted.FIG. 1(a) is a front view showing the foldable portable telephone setwhen it is folded, and FIG. 1(b) is a front view showing the portabletelephone set when it is unfolded. The foldable portable telephone set 1includes a first main body 1 a and a second main body 1 b, which arefoldably coupled to each other. An input operation button 2 and amicrophone 3 are provided on the first main body 1 a. A main liquidcrystal display (LCD) section 4 is provided on the front side of thesecond main body 1 b (the surface of the second main body which isexposed when the telephone set unfolded and is hidden when it is folded,will be referred to as the front side, and the surface of the secondmain body which is exposed even when it is folded will be referred to asthe back side). A sub-LCD section 5 is provided on the back side of thesecond main body 1 b, and in this instance, an antenna 6 is providedprotruding from the second main body 1 b.

[0029] An earphone speaker 7 is provided on the top of the front side ofthe second main body 1 b, and a lens select device 20 to be described indetail later is provided at the lower right corner of the second mainbody 1 b. A lens hole 10 is provided at the front position of the lensselect device 20 of the second main body 1 b. A lens that moves to theposition of the lens hole 10 is switched to a wide angle lens or atelescopic lens by manual rotation operations of the knurl 11 in thedirections of arrows A.

[0030] A light emitting element for emitting near infrared light, LED 8in this instance, is provided near the lens hole 10. It is lit on whenan iris image is picked up by a telescopic lens, and it illuminates theiris of the user. In this instance, the lens select device 20 isprovided at the right lower corner of the second main body of thefoldable portable telephone set 1. However, the lens select device 20may be located at any desired position.

[0031]FIG. 2 is a model diagram showing a pickup device 9 having thelens select device 20, which is the embodiment of the present invention.The pickup device 9 includes a solid-state image pickup element 12, suchas CCD or CMOS, and the lens select device 20 which is provided in frontof the solid-state image pickup element 12, and slides with a rotationaloperation of the knurl 11 in the directions of arrows A.

[0032] In the lens select device 20, a telescopic lens 21 having anarrow field angle and a wide angle lens 22 having a wide field angleare disposed side by side. One of the telescopic lens 21 and the wideangle lens 22 is selectively moved to a position in front of thesolid-state image pickup element 12 by manually selecting the knurl 11.Within the lens select device 20, a visible light cut filter 23 isprovided while being superimposed on the telescopic lens 21, and aninfrared light cut filter 24 is provided while being superimposed on thewide angle lens 22.

[0033] When an iris image of an object to be verified is picked up, anear infrared light basis image is most suitable for the iris image.Accordingly, the visible light cut filter 23 is superimposed on thetelescopic lens 21. Further, to make up for the near infrared lightwhich is little contained in natural light, the LED 8 for near infraredlight emission is provided on the foldable portable telephone set 1 ofthe embodiment. When a clear scenery image or the like is picked up, theunnecessary infrared light is to preferably be cut. Accordingly, theinfrared light cut filter 24 is superimposed on the wide angle lens 22.

[0034] To carry out an iris verifying process by use of the portabletelephone set 1, a possessor of the portable telephone set 1, viz., aperson to be verified, opens the portable telephone set 1, sets theknurl 11 to a telescopic lens select position, and moves his eye to aposition within a range from 5 to 15 cm from the lens hole 10. As aresult, the iris image of the verified person, which was picked up bythe solid-state image pickup element 12, is loaded into the portabletelephone set 1. A verification code is generated from an in-focus irisimage and is compared with a verification code registered in advance,whereby it is judged whether or not the verified person is a valid userof the portable telephone set 1.

[0035] When the portable telephone set 1 is used in a televisiontelephone mode, for example, the possessor of the portable telephone set1 opens the portable telephone set 1, sets the knurl 11 to a wide anglelens select position, and moves the lens hole 10 apart from his face byabout 30 cm. And the possessor originates a call to a called party, andafter the line is set up, he makes a normal conversation with the calledparty. A moving picture of the possessor himself, which is picked up bythe solid-state image pickup element 12 through the wide angle lens 22,is transmitted to the called party, and a moving picture of the calledparty which is transmitted from the called party is displayed on themain liquid crystal display section 4.

[0036]FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the lens selectdevice 20 according to the embodiment of the invention. The lens selectdevice 20 is made up of a support housing 33, a lens support member 34,a knurl 11, a thin plate spring 35, and a mounting screw 36. The supporthousing 33 is fixed, by means of screws 31 and 32, to a base board 30 onwhich the solid-state image pickup element 12 is mounted. The telescopiclens 21 and the wide angle lens 22 are mounted on the lens supportmember 34, as will be described in detail later. The knurl 11 increasesa speed of rotational operation of the lens support member 34. The thinplate spring 35 creates a click feeling in setting the lens supportmember 34 to a wide angle lens select position or a telescopic lensselect position. The mounting screw 36 is used for mounting the thinplate spring 35, the lens support member 34, and the knurl 11 on thesupport housing 33.

[0037] The support housing 33 is formed with a ceiling plate 41 andright and left side walls 42 and 43. The side walls 42 and 43 arefastened at the bottoms to the base board 30 by means of screws 31 and32. An arcuate hole 44 is formed in the ceiling plate 41. Through thearcuate hole 44, the telescopic lens 21 and the wide angle lens 22,which are mounted on the lens support member 34, are aligned with apredetermined position, i.e., the lens hole 10 shown in FIG. 1.

[0038] A first support shaft 45, which protrudes to the base board 30,is provided on the ceiling plate 41. The “arcuate shape” of the hole 44is formed about the support shaft 45. A second support shaft 46, whilebeing parallel with the support shaft 45, is protruded from the ceilingplate 41 to the base board 30 at a position closer to the arcuate hole44 than the support shaft 45.

[0039] The lens support member 34 is shaped like a fan, and a small gear51 is formed along a pivotal part of one end of the fan shaped lenssupport member. An annular boss 52 into which the support shaft 45 is tobe inserted is protruded from the central part of the small gear (firsttooth part) 51 toward the support housing 33. Lens-housing boss parts 53and 54, while being juxtaposed, are protruded from the other end of thelens support member 34 toward the support housing 33. The telescopiclens 21 is housed in the lens-housing boss part 53 as will be describedin detail later. The wide angle lens 22 is housed in the lens-housingboss part 54 as will be described in detail later. The lens-housing bossparts 53 and 54 are equidistantly spaced from the annular boss 52.

[0040] The knurl 11, which is mounted between the lens support member 34and the support housing 33, is shaped like a fan. An annular boss 57 isprotruded from the pivotal position of the fan-shaped knurl. The annularboss is protruded to the lens support member 34 and its tip comes insliding contact with the surface of the lens support member 34. Thesupport shaft 46 protruded from the support housing 33 is inserted intothe annular boss. An elongated hole 58, relatively short, is formed inthe knurl 11, while being arcuate about the annular boss 57. The supportshaft 45 protruded from the support housing 33 is fit into the annularboss 52 of the lens support member 34, through the elongated hole 58.

[0041] A flange part (arcuate member) 59 extends from an extend of theperipheral edge of the fan-shaped knurl toward the lens support member34. A gear is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the inscribedgear 59. The gear is larger in diameter than the small gear 51, andcomes in mesh with the small gear 51. The inscribed gear 59 will bereferred to as an inscribed gear 59, hereunder.

[0042]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the lens supportmember 34. The lens-housing boss part 53, which is provided on the lenssupport member 34, is formed with a male screw part 53 a integrallyformed with the lens support member 34, and a holder part 53 b screwedto the male screw part 53 a. A through-hole 53 d is formed in the malescrew part 53 a, while ranging from a filter receiving recess 53 cformed in the bottom of the lens support member 34 to the top of themale screw part 53 a. A through-hole 53 e is formed also in the top partof the holder part 53 b (see FIG. 8, not shown in FIG. 4).

[0043] When the holder part 53 b is screwed to the male screw part 53 a,the telescopic lens 21 is held between them. The visible light cutfilter 23 is received in the filter receiving recess 53 c. Thelens-housing boss part 54 has also the same structure. When a holder 54b is coupled to it, the wide angle lens 22 is held, and an infraredlight cut filter 24 is received in a filter receiving recess 54 c.

[0044] A disc-like hole 51 a, coaxial with the small gear 51, is formedin the bottom of the small gear 51 of the lens support member 34. Threesets of opposed ribs 55 are provided within the hole 51 a. The thinplate spring 35 having a protrusion 56 protruded from the surface isapplied to the hole 51 a, as shown in FIG. 3. The thin plate spring 35is fixed to the tip of the support shaft 45 by means of the screw 36.

[0045] With provision of the ribs 55 and the protrusion 56 of the thinplate spring 35, when the protrusion 56 moves to a gap between theadjacent ribs 55, and engages with the ribs, that is, when the lenssupport member 34 is turned to the wide angle lens select position orthe telescopic lens select position, a click feeling by the engagementis transmitted to the finger operating the knurl 11.

[0046]FIG. 5 is a bottom view showing a state that the lens supportmember 34 is assembled to the support housing 33 (the knurl 11 is notillustrated). FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken on line VI-VI inFIG. 5. FIG. 7 is a top view showing a state that the lens supportmember 34 and the knurl 11 are assembled to the support housing 33. FIG.8 is a cross sectional view taken on line VIII-VIII in FIG. 7. FIG. 6 isa cross sectional view showing a portion in which the wide angle lens 22is housed. FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view showing a portion in whichthe telescopic lens 21 is housed.

[0047] When an image is picked up by use of the telescopic lens 21, anoptical path ranging from the lens surface to the solid-state imagepickup element 12 is selected to be long so that an image formed byenlarging an image picked up at a narrow field angle at highmagnification is imaged on the solid-state image pickup element 12. Whenan image is picked up by used of the wide angle lens 22, the opticalpath ranging from the lens surface to the solid-state image pickupelement 12 is selected to be short so that a picked-up image fallingwithin a wide field angle is imaged on the solid-state image pickupelement 12. The length of the optical path is adjusted at the lensmounting positions in the male screw parts 53 a and 54 a.

[0048] Operation of selecting the wide angle lens 22 or the telescopiclens 21 for the image pick-up lens is performed by moving the inscribedgear 59 forming the outer peripheral wall of the knurl 11 in thedirections of arrows A, as shown in FIG. 7. When a force is applied tothe knurl 11 in any of the directions of arrows A, the knurl 11 isturned about the support shaft 46.

[0049] With the turn of the knurl 11, the small gear 51 of the lenssupport member 34, which inscribes the inscribed gear 59 of the knurl11, rotates about the support shaft 45, and the lens-housing boss parts53 and 54, which are opposed to the small gear 51 with respect to thesupport shaft 45, greatly move. And, the wide angle lens 22 or thetelescopic lens 21 as is selected is aligned with the lens hole 10 shownin FIG. 1. An excessive turning of the small gear 51 is curbed in amanner that the lens-housing boss parts 53 and 54 are brought intocontact with the end wall of the arcuate hole 44 formed in the supporthousing 33. At the same time, an excessive turning of the knurl 11 iscurbed in a manner that the end wall of the elongated hole 58 providedin the knurl 11 is brought into contact with the annular boss 52 throughwhich the support shaft 45 is passed.

[0050] The inside diameter of the inscribed gear 59 that the small gear51 inscribes is larger than the outside diameter of the small gear 51.Accordingly, by slightly turning the knurl 11 by applying a small forceto the knurl, the small gear 51 greatly turns to perform the lensselection. With this, even if the lens select device 20 is designed tohave a structure that the lens select device is compact as a whole, thewide angle lens 22 having a relatively large diameter and the telescopiclens 21 may be mounted thereon. Further, in the embodiment, the smallgear 51 is not directly and manually operated. The inscribed gear 59 isprovided which circumscribes the small gear 51 and increases therotational speed of the small gear 51. Therefore, less force and lessmanipulation amount are needed for the lens selecting operation. In thisrespect, the operability is improved.

[0051] To adjust an operation position of the knurl 11, viz., a positionon the portable telephone set 1 shown in FIG. 1 on which the knurl 11 ismounted, to a position suitable for manual operation, it is necessary toaccurately and relatively position the inscribed gear 59 and the smallgear 51 in the stage of assembling the lens select device 20. To thepositioning of them, in the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, the smallgear 51 and the inscribed gear 59 are marked, in advance, with dots 51 aand 59 a, and the small gear 51 and the knurl 11 are assembled onto asupport housing 33 so that the dots 51 a and 59 a are put on a line 60connecting the support shafts 45 and 46 (see FIG. 7). As a result, therelative positioning of the small gear and the inscribed gear is easyand the assembling work is easy.

[0052] By mounting the lens select device of the embodiment on theportable information terminal, two camera functions, i.e., the irisverification function and the wide angle camera function, are realizedby using one solid-state image pickup element. Accordingly, there is noneed of additionally using a special camera function exclusively usedfor picking up an iris image. As a result, the iris verificationfunction may be realized at low cost. Further prevalence of the irisverification is realized.

[0053] In the embodiment mentioned above, the inscribed gear 59 of theknurl 11 circumscribes the small gear 51 in the form of an arcuatemember which turns about the support shaft 46. In an alteration, onlythe inscribed gear 59 is taken out and reshaped into a linear rackmember. The rack member is slidably mounted on the housing of theportable telephone set 1 or the lens support member of the lens selectdevice. By manually sliding the rack member, the small gear 51 whichengages with the rack member is turned.

[0054] In the embodiment mentioned above, the camera function for irisverification is incorporated into the foldable portable telephone set.It is evident that the portable information terminal is not limited tothe portable telephone set, but may be another type of PDA or a simpleportable telephone. Further, the portable telephone set is not limitedto the foldable one, but may be any of portable telephone sets which arenot of the foldable type. Furthermore, the telescopic lens is notlimited to the use of picking up an iris image, but may be used forpicking up an enlarged image of a scenery image.

[0055] As seen from the foregoing description, the present inventionsucceeds in providing a lens select device and a portable informationterminal in which two types of lenses may be housed in a small housing.By using one of those lenses for picking up an iris image, the portableinformation terminal is realized which has an iris verifying function,and is low in cost and high in security function.

What is claimed is:
 1. A lens select device comprising: a lens selectdevice having a first tooth part at one end part and a first lens and asecond lens which are juxtaposed at the other end part, when said firsttooth part is turned, said first lens or said second lens is positionedat an image pick-up position; and an operation part for selecting saidfirst lens or said second lens to be positioned at said image pick-upposition when said operation part engages with said first tooth part andturns said first tooth part.
 2. A lens select device according to claim1, wherein said operation part includes an arcuate member which turnsabout a position different from a rotational center of said first toothpart, and has a second tooth part on the inner peripheral surface whichis in mesh with said first tooth part.
 3. A lens select device accordingto claim 2, wherein a housing is provided which has a first supportshaft serving as the rotational center of said lens support member, anda second support shaft serving as a rotational center of said operationpart, said operation part includes an elongated hole through which saidfirst support shaft passes, said elongated hole allowing said operationpart to rotate about said second support shaft, and the inside diameterof said arcuate member is larger than the outside diameter of said firsttooth part.
 4. A lens select device according to claim 2 or 3, whereinpositioning marks are respectively formed on said first tooth part andsaid arcuate member.
 5. A lens select device according to any of claims1 to 4, further comprising: a plurality of ribs provided on one sidesurface of said first tooth part, said ribs being coaxial with saidfirst tooth part and being rotatable together said first tooth part; anda thin plate spring being fixed and having a protrusion which faces saidone side surface of said first tooth part being rotating, with rotationof said first tooth part, said protrusion engaging into or disengagingfrom a gap between said ribs.
 6. A lens select device according to anyof claims 1 to 5, wherein a filter associated with a lens is mounted onsaid lens support member.
 7. A portable information terminal beingprovided with said lens select device as defined in claim 6 in which atelescopic lens is mounted as said first lens, a wide angle lens ismounted as said second lens, and an infrared light cut filter is mountedas said filter.
 8. A portable information terminal comprising: said lensselect device as defined in claim 6 in which a telescopic lens ismounted as said first lens, a wide angle lens is mounted as said secondlens, a visible light cut filter is mounted as a filter associated withsaid telescopic lens, and an infrared light cut filter is mounted as afilter associated with said wide angle lens; and an iris verifyingfunction which processes an iris image picked up through said telescopiclens to thereby carry out a verification process.